NEW YORK -- Billy Wagner understood what was at stake when he took the mound with another 4-2 lead yesterday. He knew that he'd blown three straight save chances, and that manager Willie Randolph's job hung by a thread.

"Yeah, you know the circumstances," Wagner said.

And Wagner did the job, working a perfect ninth inning, including striking out Jarrod Saltalamacchia for the final out of a long day and a long week.

"It's always good to go out there and do your job," Wagner said when asked how good it felt to nail down a game for the first time in 11 days. "My job is to go out and close games. And when you have a save situation, that's what you expect me to do."

Asked if he changed anything since he coughed up a 4-2 lead in Thursday's extra-inning loss to Arizona in his last appearance, Wagner said bitterly, "The thing I changed was missing wood."

Robinson Cancel played 15 games in the big leagues for the Milwaukee Brewers in 1999 and that was the last time he played in the majors until the Mets called him up from Triple-A New Orleans to replace Raul Casanova on June 4. Three days later he was back in the minors, but the Mets called him back up Friday, when they put Moises Alou on the DL.

Before yesterday, his last big-league hit came on Sept. 21, 1999, for the Brewers against Philadelphia.

"I don't remember about it. It's been a while," Cancel said when asked about his last hit in the majors.

Cancel said he wasn't surprised when Randolph told him to hit for Pedro Martinez with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth.

"I was ready," Cancel said. "I was hitting in the cage with Sandy (Alomar, Jr.)."

Asked what the hit meant to him, he said, "It means a lot. I didn't give up. I kept playing, and I finally got a chance to play in the major leagues."

"That's what it's all about," Carlos Beltran said of Cancel's game-winning hit. "Twenty-five guys. We're all accountable. He came in in a tough situation and came through, big time, for us."

Trot Nixon had his choice, for his first start as a Met, to be in either left field or right field. He decided to go with right field, because though he said he feels comfortable in either spot, "I feel, probably the most comfortable in right."

Randolph said Nixon would likely play in both spots going forward, and it wouldn't be a shock to see him playing some first base at times. He played there at times during spring training with Arizona.

Nixon's first major-league game this season -- he'd spent the entire season with Triple-A Tucson until the Mets acquired him Friday -- was encouraging. After grounding out to third in his first at bat, Nixon, batting sixth, singled and stole a base; walked; doubled and scored in the Mets' three-run eighth, and walked in the middle of the two-run ninth inning rally.

He did not start the second game, with Texas starting a left-hander in Kason Gabbard.

RF Ryan Church, who is on the DL because of a concussion, was at the ballpark to say hello to his teammates and talk to the team's trainers. He said he feels "great" and suggested he should be ready to play as soon as he is eligible to come off the disabled list June 21.

The Rangers recalled Gabbard from Triple-A Oklahoma to make the start. To make room on their 25-man roster, reliever Robinson Tejeda was designated for assignment. ... Martinez got into a staredown in the sixth inning with Rangers' RF Marlon Byrd after Byrd flied to center for the second out of the inning. Byrd asked for time as Martinez was readying to deliver a pitch and when Byrd got back into his batting stance, Martinez took his glove off and started to rub up the baseball. Byrd flew out on the next pitch and said something to Martinez as he jogged past the mound on his way back to the dugout. "He said, 'I missed it by this much,'¥" Martinez said of Byrd. "But you know what? I don't need you to miss it by more than that."